1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle, a power receiving device, a power transmitting device and a contactless power supply system and, more particularly, to communication control between a power transmitting device and a vehicle in a contactless power supply system that contactlessly supplies electric power from an external power supply to the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, contactless wireless power transfer that does not use a power cord or a power transmission cable has become a focus of attention, and it has been suggested that the contactless wireless power transfer is applied to an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or the like, of which an in-vehicle electrical storage device is chargeable by a power supply outside the vehicle (hereinafter, also referred to as “external power supply”).
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-250555 (JP 2011-250555 A) describes a configuration that, in a power supply system that contactlessly supplies electric power from a power supply facility outside a vehicle to the vehicle, information about a charging efficiency, an amount of charge, and the like, is transmitted through wireless communication between the power supply facility and the vehicle and then appropriate charging is carried out on the basis of these pieces of information.
A contactless power supply system is predicated upon no wire connection between a power transmitting device and a vehicle, so, basically, transmission of information between the power transmitting device and the vehicle is also desirably carried out through wireless communication as in the case of JP 2011-250555 A.
In the case of searching for a power transmitting device that is usable with the use of wireless communication, a relatively wide-area communication range is desirably used. However, for example, when contactless power supply is performed in a place in which a plurality of parking spaces are located in proximity to one another, such as a parking lot of a commercial facility and a charging station, a wide communication range may cause communication with another adjacent power transmitting device in the case where a vehicle is parked in a selected parking space.
Then, pairing is not appropriately performed between a power transmitting device and a vehicle, and, for example, electric power may possibly be transmitted to a vehicle, which should be originally charged, on the basis of information about another vehicle parked in an adjacent parking space.